Royals Home Winning Streak Ends In 4-2 Loss To Cardinals

Burlington, N.C. - The Royals streak of home wins ended on Saturday in a 4-2 loss to the Johnson City Cardinals. Since a 10-8 loss to the Pirates on July 25th, Burlington had won eight straight at Burlington Athletic Stadium.
Johnson City scored first in the top of the third. With no one out and William Jimenez on third, Mateo Gil hit a ground ball to third hard enough to allow the run to come in and put the Cards up 1-0.
However, the Royals answered soon after. In the bottom of the fourth, a throwing error by Malcolm Nunez on a Jake Means single allowed Vinnie Pasquantino to come in from second and tie the game.
The Cardinals, unfazed, took control in the fifth. Johnson City batted around as the team brought across three runs to take a 4-1 lead.
Burlington scored one more in the bottom of the sixth, but it wasn't enough to come from behind.
Cards lefty reliever Walker Robbins (2-0) earned the win with 3.2 innings of no-hit relief in which he surrendered just one unearned run. Right-hander John Witkowski finished off the final five Royals batters to earn the save. Adrian Alcantara (2-4) took the loss after being charged with four Johnson City runs, of which three were earned.
Burlington starts its penultimate home series on Sunday when the Greeneville Reds come to town. First pitch in game one of the three-game set is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Single-game tickets are on sale now. Call 336-222-0223 or visit www.burlingtonroyals.com for more information.